34 Seattle-Area Organizations Working for a Better Food System

Food Tank’s Inaugural Seattle Summit is just a couple of weeks away, and we’re excited to connect and collaborate with our members and member organizations in the Pacific Northwest. The region is home to an array of groups working to grow nutritious food, reduce hunger, and promote sustainability, including nonprofits, foundations, university centers, and more!

The Summit, titled “Growing Food Policy,” will be held in partnership with the Environmental Working Group, Food Action, Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB), the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Seattle University’s Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability on March 17, 2018. The limited number of tickets to this event will sell out quickly, soCLICK HERE to reserve your spot.

Leading up to the Summit, Food Tank is highlighting 34 organizations to watch in and around Seattle, Washington.

This university center focuses on social, economic, and environmental justice and sustainability. They pursue goals such as “engaging local and global partners through projects that will directly benefit overburdened and underserved communities,” distribute information about university achievements and efforts such as The President’s Committee for Sustainability, and support academic and co-curricular endeavors in sustainability and environmental justice.

This nonprofit works to support the growth and use of fruit from urban orchards. Theirgoals include planting, protecting, and caring for fruit trees, as well as working with community members and groups to harvest the fruit, preserve it, and share the surplus.

This organization “seeks to transform unjust trade and agricultural policies and practices imposed by corporations, governments, and other institutions while creating and supporting alternatives that embody social justice, sustainability, diversity, and grassroots democracy.” Their work focuses onfood justice,trade justice, and a campaign “to challenge the dominant development ideology pushed by governments, corporations, and ‘private’ philanthropic actors as they try to expand our corporate-driven, industrial model of agriculture into Africa.”

Community to Community Development is a grassroots advocacy and campaign organization dedicated to food sovereignty, defined as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” Under their food sovereignty program area, they focus on rights for farm workers, small-scale organic farming, transformational food initiatives, and agroecology. In addition, they highlight community leadership and local grassroots work through theirSeeds of Justice Awards and their ecofeminist radio showCommunity Voz.

Familias Unidas por la Justicia, formed in 2013, is the first new farm worker union in the U.S. in a quarter-century and the first union in Washington State to be lead by indigenous workers. InJune 2017, representatives of the union, which represents Mixteco and Triqui members, signed a collective bargaining agreement with Sakuma Bros Berry Farm, establishing a contract containing a series of specifications including average hourly wages, non-discrimination, and procedures for resolving disputes.

This youth-led organization offers programming for high schoolers to cultivate young leaders who can enact change in their communities by advancing health, racial equity, and food justice. Theirweekly community dinners bring together youth aged 13 to 18 years to cook an improvised meal from scratch and to discuss topics such as health inequity and social justice. In additional, their year-longinternship program allows youth the opportunity to lead their own food justice campaigns.

Food Lifeline works to feed hungry people today while solving hunger for tomorrow. They provide 97,000 meals each day by redirecting good food from manufacturers, farmers, grocery stores, and restaurants that would otherwise go to waste. Each year, thousands of volunteers with their Hunger Solution Center help to repack and sort this food for distribution to more than 300 food banks, meal programs, and shelters across western Washington. They also lead advocacy efforts to shape policy and partner with organizations addressing the needs of low-income families to solve hunger for the future.

GRuB works with youth and adults to promote food justice and sustainability in their communities. Their youth programming includes field trips to the organization’sGRuB Farm and aprogram enabling high schoolers to earn school credits taking classes with GRuB. In addition, theirKitchen Garden Project—now more than 20 years old—builds gardens and supports new gardeners. The organization also runs aCSA that subsidizes produce for GRuB’s school program and food they supply to a food bank.

This grassroots organization seeks to advance economic, racial, and environmental justice so that low-income communities and communities of color share in positive changes brought about by the green movement. They work to engage communities in building campaigns, and they havethree committees focusing on Food Access, Young Leaders, and Climate Justice.

Founded in 1999, this nonprofit news outlet covers topics including food, climate and energy, and justice to inform readers and inspire action “toward a planet that doesn’t burn” and a better future. By naming the Grist 50 every year, they also highlight green leadership and innovation.

From their global headquarters in Seattle, Landesa works on land rights reform around the world. They interact with farmers, engage with governments in policy and program development, and inform investors and stakeholders about social responsibility and gender equity in making land investments. In addition, theLandesa Center for Women’s Land Rights pilots projects focused on land rights for women and works to ensure the inclusion of women’s land rights in Landesa’s work.

NABC supports farmers in northwestern Washington withbusiness services such as marketing, sales, and loan or grant application assistance, as well as helping develop agricultural cooperatives, offeringclasses and workshops, and supportingfarm-to-institution connections. They work in six counties—Island, King, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties—to “improve the economic vitality of the agriculture industry” in the region.

This nonprofit works to reduce hunger by providing meals through a network of food banks, schools, and meal programs across Washington State. The food they distribute to their partner food banks must be provided free of charge to individuals who ask for it. They also offer programs such as aKids Summer Food Club and aprogram to support efforts to increase the availability of fresh produce from food banks.

This nationally focused nonprofit leadsresearch,education, and policyadvocacy efforts to “advance ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world.” Through these efforts, they seek to share and generate knowledge to increase diversity in organic seed varieties. Some of theirpublications include reports on organic seed in the United States and guides for seed saving and plant breeding.

This nonprofit center occupies 230 acres of land, 30 of which make up a Certified Organic farm supplying food to local restaurants, retailers, andCSA customers, along with schools and agencies tackling hunger. They also maintain aNative Plant Nursery, work with individuals and organizations to restore habitats, conduct research, and provide opportunities for students and volunteers to engage in projects and educational activities.

Run through the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, this program maintains community gardens, enabling gardeners to grow food and steward land for public use. These gardens help to facilitate a range of initiatives, such as aMarket Gardens program, which allows community members working in gardens located on Seattle Housing Authority property to sell the food they grow at farm stands accepting Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Cards, and the Fresh Bucks SNAP/EBT matching program.

This nonprofit land trust uses a variety ofapproaches to protect farmland, such as Buy-Protect-Sell, whereby the Trust buys the land and sells or leases it to farmers after removing development rights to the land through a conservation easement. The Trust uses multiplecriteria for selecting properties, such as the physical characteristics of the land and the possibility for additional, non-agricultural benefits such as recreation and waterway restoration. They also offer community engagement opportunities throughevents andvolunteering. The Trust was founded and is supported by PCC Community Markets, a member-owned and operated co-op bringing locally-sourced food to communities in the Puget Sound area.

This farmer-owned distribution cooperative facilitates the supply of locally farmed food to institutions such as grocery stores, restaurants, schools, and hospitals. They provide resources and information to both farmers and buyers such as apurchasing guide, a “Guide for Farmers and Ranchers,” andinformation about each food producer.

Founded in 2009, this publisher works toward food literacy among children and families. They have published a collection of illustrated books that tell some of the stories of the food system in a way that works to facilitate conversation. They take books straight to their readers through apop-up bookstore that appears at events and farmers’ markets.

Founded in 1990, this group organizes farmers markets to “provide fun and rewarding venues for Washington state small farms and artisans to bring their highest quality, locally-grown and crafted products to urban residents.” Their food access efforts include accepting EBT/SNAP, participating in Fresh Bucks, Fresh Bucks RX, and the Farmers Market Nutrition Program, and donating excess produce.

This volunteer-run chapter of Slow Food USA is part of the global grassroots Slow Food movement and pursues a mission “to share the pleasures of the table through experiences that heighten awareness of artisanal and sustainable foods of our region and the world.” They offer events and opportunities for Slow Food members and others in the community to engage with the movement.

This nonprofit works toward a vision for 2020 where “Seattle anchors a region in which all residents, organizations, and businesses are engaged, empowered, and collaborating to secure a sustainable, equitable, and resilient future.” Theirprogramming includes the Seattle Greendrinks networking event series and anIncubator Hub sponsoring and supporting sustainability projects.

This foundation seeks to “inspire people to eat real food and vote with every food dollar.” They offeryouth andadult educational programs, such as the free Pure Food Kids Workshop for fourth and fifth-grade students and the Sound Food Uprising food systems education course. They also maintain an online Knowledge Pantry with recipes, toolkits, and other resources.

This university lab researches and breeds grains such as wheat and barley and works with food producers including farmers, bakers, and brewers to find the best uses for different varieties. For example, they developed and releasedSkagit 1109, a wheat variety developed to be grown in the coastal Pacific Northwest and used as whole wheat. The Lab’s Director, Dr. Stephen Jones, wasrecently named as Clif Bar & King Arthur Flour Endowed Chair in Organic Grain Breeding & Innovation through a new US$1.5 million endowment to sustain the Lab’s research into organic grains.

Viva Farms is a rapidly growing farm incubator thatrecently more than doubled its acreage. They aim to “launch a new generation of farmers” by subleasing land and providing resources such as technical assistance and capital to new farmers who are in transition to owning their own farms. Farmers can enroll in training courses and supply produce to Viva Farms’CSA program.

This coalition represents a large member network of hunger relief organizations in Washington State, offering events such as an annualconference andmonitoring program and policy developments related to nutrition assistance. In addition, theirFood Assistance Advisory Committee provides guidance to the Washington Food Coalition Board and the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

Washington State’s chapter of theNational Young Farmers Coalition aims to help facilitate “a vital statewide agrarian revival.” They support new farmers by fosteringsocial connections and providingresources such as skill-building workshops and information about various ways to obtain assistance. They also actively participate in policy conversations affecting young farmers in the state.

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Miranda is a former Research & Writing Fellow for Food Tank. Miranda’s interest in food systems originated while she studied anthropology at George Mason University. During the three years after graduating, she worked at a research organization focused on the wellbeing of children and youth, where her project work introduced her to topics including healthy schools legislation, school nutrition, and healthy eating programs. Miranda is also active with food-focused organizations in Washington, D.C., volunteering with farmers’ markets and interning with a school-based food education program for elementary schoolers.